Pins and needles
by hectatess
Summary: When Dean walks past Castiël's bedroom, he gets called in. Cas is human, thanks to Metatron, and something has happened. Cas needs Dean to get this sorted. One-shot. Set in season 9. Minor Destiel at the end. If you are not into that, don't read.


Rubbing his sleep gritty eyes, Dean sauntered off to the bathroom, toiletry bag in hand, clean clothes draped over his arm. He had to pass Castiël's bedroom and his mind woke a bit more when he remembered that tidbit.

' _Poor guy. Having to be human after aeons of being a wavelength of celestial thingy. Must be tough on him.'_

Dean's brain had been on repeat of this theme ever since they got Cas home. He slept now, and had to use a toilet. He even ate, which was AWESOME in a way. Now Dean could give Cas every food on his own favorites list. As he neared the room, Dean started ticking off items.

' _Lemme see. Pie, of course, and burgers. Fries...'_

His thoughts ground to a halt as he was next to the door. From inside he could hear a soft noise, which wasn't unusual, but the tone was kind of distressed. Next thing that he heard was Cas, calling out his name.

"Dean?"

He pushed open the door.

"Heya buddy! What's up?"

Cas was still lying in bed, one arm over his head. It looked relaxed if it wasn't for the way Cas looked at him, his deep blue eyes filled with panic.

"I think I have been cursed."

Alarmbells went off in Dean's head, but outwardly, he remained calm.

"Why would you think that, Cas? Something turn green? Fall off?"

Damn his thoughts! His mind provided him with nasty thoughts, which translated to his vocal chords and this happened.

"No... not that I'm aware of, but it's my arm. It will not move when I tell it to."

Cas' gravelly voice rose a bit, showing his distress even better than those wide blue peepers.

Dean bit his lip. It could be nothing, but it could be something too.

"Anything else not er... functioning?"

He managed to keep it clean, except for his thoughts, but who would know that?

"No, thankfully not. It is just this arm."

Cas patted it, then looked even more alarmed.

"I can't feel it! Dean... the arm... it.. it's DEAD!"

This time Dean bit his lip to stop the giggle that threatened to come out.

"Did..."

He cleared his throat, because his voice was strained, and he didn't want Cas panicking even worse.

"Did you fall asleep like that? With your arm over your head like that?"

Cas nodded, eyes shining with unshed tears.

' _Oh crap. He is really scared... poor guy!'_

"It's ok, Cas... C'mere."

He sat down on the bed and reached out.

"It's just fallen asleep."

Cas scoffed, pulling away a bit.

"Of course it did. I fell asleep, henceforth, it has. It is still a part of my body, Dean."

Dean felt his eyes crinkle up with mirth and quickly deadpanned, but Cas saw anyway.

"It is not funny, Dean. My arm has an unknown ailment, and you laugh at it."

Dean looked down.

"Sorry." And he was. He didn't want to stress Cas out even more. He looked back up and locked his green eyes on those big, blue ones, trying to show sincerity.

"But your arm is fine, I swear. See, when you sleep in certain positions, you kinda cut off the bloodflow. Not fully, but enough to let your limb go numb, like your arm. If we get the flow going again, it'll be right as rain."

Cas looked sceptical.

"How do we do that?" he asked, doubt rising.

"I cannot move it."

Dean kept his smirk at bay. So not the time to be snarky.

"I can. C'mere, I'll just..."

He reached out and took the arm gently in his hands, internally wincing at how cold it felt. It was heavy and unresponsive. A deadweight, like an unconscious or dead body. Carefully, he draped it on Cas' lap.

"There we go. Now, we can let this rest, and wait until the bloodflow returns, or we can rub it to make it go faster."

Cas bit his lip, white teeth in contrast with his pink lips.

"I think I will wait it out, thank you."

Dean dipped his head, but stayed put. If Cas never had a sleeping limb before, odds were that he never had...

"OW! Dean... it... it hurts!"

Cas turned his shocked face to Dean, even more panicky now than before.

"Dean! Help me?"

Dean nodded slowly. There it was.

"Sure thing buddy... I'll rub it. Hang on."

He started rubbing the arm at the top, gently yet firmly. After a bit, Cas pulled it out of Dean's grip.

"Stop, stop stop! You're making it **worse**!"

Those blue eyes were reproachfull now, and Dean sighed.

"I'm sorry, buddy, but that is perfectly normal. It **should** hurt. It's called 'having needles and pins'. It means the increased bloodflow is activating your nerve-ends again. That's why it hurts. The sooner we get that flow to full strength, the sooner it will be over."

Cas looked doubtful and Dean hated it.

"Cas... do you trust me?"

Cas nodded.

"Of course I do, you know I do."

His answer was a bit hurt, but Dean ignored it.

"Then let me do this, ok? I promise it won't take long, and I'll try and make this as painless as I can."

He started the rubbing again and pretty soon Cas let out a quiet sob.

"You ok?" Dean asked, still rubbing.

Cas was biting down on his bottom lip and nodded.

"We're getting there, buddy. Just a bit more." Dean tried to reassure him.

Cas pressed his face in Dean's neck and let out a pained hum.

Dean was sure his cheeks were catching fire, with how fast they heated up, but his hands never wavered. He kept rubbing, while surreptiously inhaling Cas' scent.

It was salty and musky, but underneath it there was an ocean fresh hint, which slid all the way to the pit of Dean's stomach. He tried to ignore it.

Cas let out a shuddering breath, warm and a bit moist through Dean's clothing. Dean swallowed and shut his eyes for a second.

"You still ok, Cas?"

Cas nodded, his long lashes tickling the crook of Dean's neck. Dean leant his head down on Cas', seeing his hands were busy.

"You'll be ok. Pain should be subsiding already."

A quiet hum was all the response he got, and Cas put his free arm around Dean's back, pulling in a bit closer.

Cas was getting heavier, relaxing into the odd semi-hug, while Dean was trying to keep his mind on the task at hand.

After a while, he deemed the arm ready. He could feel muscle tension returning and Cas' skin was feeling nice and warm once more.

"There ya go, pal. That should do it."

Dean let go of Cas' arm and tried to lean back, but as soon as the arm was free, Cas used it to turn the semi-hug into a real one. He wrapped it around Dean and pressed closer.

"Thank you, Dean." he whispered, voice cracking a bit.

Dean rubbed Cas' back, returning his hug.

"Sure thing. Guess there is so much we take for granted, huh? And you have to learn it all. Hell,do you even know how to brush your teeth?"

He said it to add some levity, but Cas sat back, eyes on his blanket.

"No..."

It was a whisper, and it broke Dean's heart. He reached out and gently lifted Cas' chin with a crooked finger.

"Then we will teach you that next... after breakfast, ok?"

"Yes... Thank you." Cas softly said, flicking his eyes up.

A blush tinged Cas' cheeks pink and Dean couldn't let go, couldn't stop taking in the blue eyes, dark lashes, pink cheeks, pink lips... He couldn't stop himself from leaning in and ever so softly pressing his lips to Cas'.

Cas gasped, a soft rush of air tickling both their lips, and then returned preassure.

Dean had expected a wave of lust or passion to come crashing in, but it didn't. Just a warm glow igniting around his heart. He pulled back, veridian eyes locked on cerulean.

"Let's get breakfast, huh?"

Cas nodded numbly, eyes glazed a bit, lips kiss-swollen.

Dean smiled.

"Love you, Cas."

Cas blinked, then smiled back.

"Love you too, Dean."

Sam looked up as they entered the kitchen. He smiled and flipped a pancake.

"Morning you two. Just in time. I made pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. Coffee's ready too."

If he even saw their hands laced together, he didn't say anything. Although he did smile a lot that morning. Dean decided he didn't care, as he dug into his plate one handed.


End file.
